Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), this non-provisional patent application claims the priority benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-0019761, filed on Apr. 11, 2002 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2002-0029264, filed on May 27, 2002, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery and a battery locking unit of a
mobile terminal, and in particular to a battery and a battery locking unit of a mobile terminal capable of detaching/attaching a battery from/to a terminal body easily and increasing space usability of a mobile terminal.
2. Background of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating the conventional mobile terminal, and
FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the mobile terminal in FIG. 1 taken along the line I-I.
In the conventional mobile terminal, a battery 104 is attached to the rear of a terminal body 102, and a locking unit for locking the battery 104 is installed in the terminal body 102.
As depicted in FIG. 2, the locking unit consists of a hook 106 installed at the rear of the terminal body 102 so as to be movable up and down; a spring 108 installed between the hook 106 and the terminal body 102 for providing a certain elastic force to the hook 106; and a locking groove 112 formed at the upper surface of the battery 104 and locking the hook 106 so as to be engaged with the hook 106.
The hook 106 consists of a handle portion 114 projected outwardly so as to be handled by a user; a spring installation portion 116 at which the spring is installed; and a locking protrusion 110 locked to the locking groove 112 of the battery 104.
In the conventional battery locking unit of the mobile terminal, when the battery 104 is mounted onto the rear of the terminal body 102 and is pushed upwardly, the locking groove 112 of the battery 104 is inserted-locked into the locking protrusion 110 of the hook 106. Herein, by the elastic force of the spring 108, the locking groove 112 of the battery 104 is locked to the locking protrusion 110 of the hook 106, and accordingly the battery 104 is fixed to the terminal body 102.
In that state, as depicted in FIG. 3, in order to separate the battery from the terminal body 102, if the user pulls the handle portion 114 in an A direction, the locking groove 112 is separated from the locking protrusion 110. Afterward, when the user pulls the battery in a B direction, the battery 104 is separated from the terminal body 102.
However, in the conventional mobile terminal, because the locking unit for locking the battery is installed in the terminal body, a space for installing the locking unit is required, and accordingly space usability of the terminal body may be lowered.
In addition, in the locking unit, in order to release the locking of the battery, the user has to separate the battery from the body with one hand while pulling the handle portion of the hook, and accordingly it is intricate.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.